Report: Mitsubishi may sell rebadged Renaults in SEA soon

Mitsubishi open to rebadging, selling Renault cars in Southeast Asia

Renault may soon have a bigger presence in Asia as Mitsubishi Motors is apparently open to the idea of rebadging and selling their models, particularly in Southeast Asia (SEA).

In a report by Automotive News Europe, Mitsubishi chief operating officer Trevor Mann said that it's one way the automaker can create synergies within the Alliance (Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi). He added that it would make sense for Mitsubishi to badge engineer several Renault models as the French auto brand practically has no foothold in Asia.

“Renault is almost non-existent in Southeast Asia,” said Mann.

What's more is that Mitsubishi has a stronger presence in SEA than Nissan. Mitsubishi itself has three factories in Thailand alone which are capable of rolling out more than 3 million vehicles. Mann said that this could help both Renault and Nissan in boosting each of their market share in SEA.

Just several weeks ago, Nissan and Mitsubishi were supposedly eyeing jointly developing the next-generation Triton/Strada and Navara pickups. Mitsubishi's pickup architecture may well become the basis of future alliance models between the two companies.

“If you look at our cost performance in that region, we are the benchmark within the alliance. Our cost-base on pickups is better than Nissan's,” added Mann.

Apart from the joint pickup development, Nissan and Mitsubishi are also thinking whether their new-generation crossovers can have shared components and platforms. In our previous report, both the next-gen ASX and Outlander have been delayed indefinitely due to this development.

One of the few models that Mitsubishi can rebadge include the Renault Duster (sold as the Nissan Terrano over in India) and the D-segment Talisman (second image). Currently, the only small crossover Mitsubishi has is the ASX. Meanwhile, the Galant has already been discontinued.